Manfredi was born to the noble Italian della Gherardesca family and raised surrounded by the beauty of the museums and galleries of Florence. This built within him a robust awareness of his own taste and the importance of the decorative arts as the foundation for Western culture. Later, his mind would be captured by the draw of the contemporary and the way it challenged entrenched tastes and set ideals. It was the act of balancing these two important and enriching themes which would consume the rest of his professional life. The thrill of placing two seemingly incongruous objects side by side without diminishing the importance of either, but instead creating a wonderland where onlookers could learn and see something ‘different’, was something of a compulsion.

Alongside a passion for the arts Manfredi built up an extensive knowledge over his lifetime and inspired many. Amongst those close to him, the American artist Jeff Koons said: “Manfredi was an amazing person. His aesthetics were clear and sharpened. I remember one time when Manfredi invited me to see Poussin’s early pastoral paintings. To this day, I still feel the quality of those works and the atmosphere of them that he shared with me. I will always feel united with Manfredi through the sensitivity that he shared with me of his insight into greatness.”

Lady Getty described him as an “Iconoclast, Aesthete, Polymath. A Man from a more refined and romantic age, straight out of a Florentine painting of the Cinquecento. He had an eclecticism and the wildest taste in art tempered by his incredible eye and absolute conviction. A rare star who lit up our firmament for much too brief a time.”

As well as touching many personally and professionally, his career began on his appointment as Director of the L’Antiquaire & The Connoisseur Gallery in New York. He then moved on to Citibank’s private art advisory division, before becoming Chairman of Sotheby’s Italy. In 2000 he founded MDG Fine Arts in order to bring galleries, auction houses, institutions and private collectors together and in 2016 he moved into interior design, as a result of regularly being asked to help furnish some wonderful homes with antiques and fine art.

The culmination of over three years of planning, the sale explores Manfredi’s many diversions, spanning Modern and Contemporary art, design and photography, to Old Master paintings, English and Continental furniture and sculpture, as well as the many exceptional decorative objects he used like alchemy to balance and curate his eclectic harmony. All point towards the pop-like multicultural sensibility of this much missed tastemaker and his discerning eye to create distinct yet personal environments.

Commenting on this extraordinary collection, Joe Robinson, Head of Dreweatts House Sales and Private Collections department, said: “Manfredi possessed the rare quality of having excellent taste, extensive knowledge and an extraordinary vision. His profound passion made him a uniquely sophisticated and eclectic collector with a cultural depth representative of his keen appreciation for beauty in all its forms. Dreweatts are proud to have worked with Manfredi in the early stages of development for his sale and to have been entrusted with his collection. The collection is emblematic of his sublime, witty and original style.”

Fine Art

Among the highlights of the collection is a head study of Gerland Heard by legendary modern British artist Glyn Philpot (1889-1971). Gerland Heard was a friend of Aldous Huxley, W. H. Auden and of Christopher Isherwood who dedicated his novel 'A Meeting by the River' to Heard. He was a follower of the Vedanta movement and wrote a book 'Pain, Sex and Time'.

The sale includes a painting by the Flemish master painter Jacobus Ferdinandus Saey (1658-1726), whose work focused on depicting elegant groups of high society, dressed exuberantly and participating in some creative or artistic pursuit, in front of fictional grand classical Renaissance and Baroque buildings. Some of Saey's architectural scenes drew on subjects from the bible or mythology, while others simply told a visual story for pure entertainment, involving imaginary figures invented by the artist. He sought to impress onlookers with his technical achievements of architectural perspective, intense lighting and fantastical figures. The oil on canvas painting being offered is titled ‘A Classical Portico with an Elegant Company Gathered by a Fountain’ and is signed and dated 1694.

'Portrait of a Poodle' by the French Rococo painter, engraver and tapestry designer, Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686-1755) is typical of the artist’s works, which were naturalistic paintings of animals. On joining the Académie de Saint-Luc art school, Oudry concentrated on portraiture, working under the great French artist Nicolas de Largillière (1656-1746) from 1707 to 1712. Oudry was very young on graduating at the age of 22 in 1708 and was praised for his exceptional talent. Having made his mark in portrait painting, Oudry began to create still life paintings animals, fruit and religious subjects. During this time he was commissioned by the Director of the Royal Beauvais Tapestry Manufactory, Noël-Antoine de Mérou to create the designs for one of the most iconic series of tapestries of the period, in history, The Pastoral Amusements, or Les Amusements Champêtres.

Oudry was introduced to the Marquis de Beringhen, hereditary master of the royal stables, for whom he painted a pair of paintings in 1727, followed by a suite of landscapes in the Flemish manner. This led to many more prestigious commissions for animal portraits, such as hunting scenes and wealthy families’ domestic animals. The oil on canvas painting offered in the auction is of a rather stately poodle standing proudly, dominating the scene.

In contrast, is a work by one of America’s most note-worthy female artists, Lorna Simpson (b. 1960), the first black woman to have her work exhibited at the Venice Biennale. She is well-known for her use of old photographs that are given a new context, by the combination of other materials to create a collage effect. A declaratory phrase is then added to make a statement on subjects such as identity politics. She later added installation works, video and painting to her oeuvre. The work in the sale is titled 'Redd' and inverts the hair of the female figure, forcing the viewer to revaluate who this person is, thereby challenging us to rethink identity.

Furniture

An exceptionally rare early example of the polished red lacquer fiberglass ‘Floris’ chair made famous by the designer Guenter Beltzig (b.1941) in 1967 is an exciting addition to the sale. In the late 1960s Beltzig dedicated himself to designing ground-breaking toughened plastic furniture from moulded, ergonomic casts that flowed in plant-like forms. Originally envisaged as an outdoor child’s chair, the Surrealist form of the ‘Floris’ chair was based on a cast of Beltzig’s own body, which he then turned into a humanlike seat object. The early chairs such as this, are from the first series, which comprised of 50 pieces in a range of colours (orange, green, yellow and red), making them highly rare.

A pair of iconic ‘Capitello Ionico’ wooden chairs in black and white lacquer by one of the most innovative Italian artists and designers of the 20th century, Piero Fornasetti (1913-1988), shows the more whimsical side of the collection. Fornasetti used pictorial and decorative images in the style of engravings on furniture, ceramics and clothing, such as silk scarves, as well as objects. A collaboration in the 1940s with the Italian architect Gio Ponti (1891-1979), who was also his patron, led to fresh, innovative pieces that proved very popular and have remained highly collectable. Fornasetti’s works, such as these, act as functional sculpture and are a fun addition to any interior.

Decorative Arts

Among the decorative arts in the sale is a colourful pair of ‘Famille Rose’ porcelain pheasants. Famille-Rose porcelain gets its name from the pinkish tones of the pieces. This unique tone is produced by the mixing of colloidal gold, tiny fragments of gold suspended in water, to the overall glaze. This was a technique introduced to China from Europe during the reign of the Qing Dynasty Emperor Yongzheng, who ruled from 1723 to 1735. The best ‘Famille Rose’ porcelain was made at the Imperial kilns of Jingdezhen. The pieces were fired and then painted, before being given a final glaze of quartz sand mixed with lead before a second firing. The special glaze was then used to enhance the brightness of the colours. Quite often the pieces that reached Europe were copies made by artisans there, but authenticity can be verified by signs such as the thickness of the enamel, the quality of the painting and their shape, as well as the character marks painted on the base of pieces.

Also in the sale is a group of black-glazed wares from the Belgian pottery in Namur, with its distinctive black colouring made from a very small deposit of black clay from fossilized wood. The style and colour was to emulate the British-made black ceramics of the same style, which Belgian potteries began copying in the 18th century. Both types have the texture of fine stoneware and a strong glossy black glaze. The finest pieces were decorated with silver, as on the examples in the sale and they were mainly produced for the aristocracy of the county of Namur. The group dates from the 19th century and reflects Manfredi’s compulsion for collection objects of the same type.

Sculpture

This set of thirteen 18th century Italian terracotta portrait medallions are by the eminent sculptor and engraver Jean-Baptiste Nini (1717-1786) and his workshop. Born in Urbino, Italy he moved to France, specializing in creating the terracotta medallions that represented important personalities of his time. Terracotta became very fashionable as a material for small sculptures including portrait busts in the 18th century, as it was much easier to work with than carved materials and was able to give a more spontaneous approach by the artist. Among the important historical figures that he captured in this group are; Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), Louis XVI (1754 -1793), Marie Antoinette (1755-1793), Madame de Flesselles - wife of Jacques de Flesselles (1721-1789), Jacques-Donatien Leray de Chaumont Intendant des Invalides (1726-1803), Empress Catherine the Great (1729-1796), Suzanne Jarente de la Reyniere (1735-1815), Baronne de Nivenheim (1742-1805), Louis XV (1710-1774), Marie Therese of Austria (1717-1780), Father Joachim de Pierre de Bernis (1715-1794), ‘Two Ladies’. Some of the medallions have had some important previous owners, such as the private collection of the Empress Catherine the Great.

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Auction Details

Wednesday 24 April, 10.30am BST
Donnington Priory, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2JE

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